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Campground Stories

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    • Once camping with Cub Scouts in the Fall where campsites are pretty much predetermined. During the the night I could hear strong wind and what sounded like hail on our tent. When I woke up in the morning I realized it was not rain, but instead was acorns off the tree above us.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • We were roasting hot dogs over the campfire one evening for a late night snack. It seems a fragment of one wiener ended up on the ground overnight and was taken up into a tree by a squirrel or chipmunk. At breakfast, the critter, dropped the hot dog and it landed on my daughter's head.

      We had just set up camp at Canyon Campground in Yellowstone NP when we observed our two older kids (at the time both in elementary school) running around the trailer growling at each other. We asked what they were doing and they said "We're playing predator and prey". It seems they learned this game at the Zoo Day Camp they had attended the previous summer.
    • A few years back, we were camping with my buddy's family and got hit by a torrential monsoon around 9pm. We had a portable gazebo/canopy/whatever set up, and my buddy and I have gotten pretty good at slapping the sides on that thing in record time due to similar incidents.

      About hour later and its still pouring like Niagara Falls and out of nowhere is this loud explosion just outside the front of the canopy we're all hanging out in. My buddy and me jump outside from different directions, flashlights in hand... It was a huge nest (wasps, hornets, take your pick) and I do mean the biggest I had ever seen. We hustled back under the canopy, zipped up, and guessed that it just absorbed too much water to stay hanging where it was.

      My buddy's son is a an early riser, so he was the only one up when I stumbled out of my tent the next morning. I grabbed a coffee pot and put it on the fire and sat back in my camp chair waiting for the coffee to percolate. That's when I hear this strange thud, so I look over to the side of the camp and, to my abject horror, lil' man had just gave that huge nest laying there a swift kick!

      Crap! My mind went in to overdrive, and with ninja-like precision, I started both evaluating the situation and making contingency plans. I ran through a dozen scenarios in less than a second. First thing was protect little man. I opened my mouth to start vocalizing my strategic NATO plan for evacuation and... All that came out was a slow, slurred voice that said, "Buddy... Buddy, don't do that." And to hear lil' man tell the story, apparently I also had the worlds most confused look on my face when I said it.

      Man, I just hate when crazy sh*t happens before I get my coffee!


      * Oh yeah, the nest was empty or abandoned or whatever. No matter, just the thought of him kicking it still helped to loosen my bowels. =O
      *

      For once I'd just like to hear myself say, "Great job, self! Why don't you just take the day off."
    • Back yonder, in the olde days, the 1950s Disney had a story bout a Boys' Ranch on teevee. One night some of the kids were subjected to a Snipe Hunt.

      Well, there are no snipe in the US.

      So, we set one up. This was in Texas. No cell phones.

      Anyway, we are out camping. The Scoutmaster had brought gunny sacks and horse shoes. Why ? To attract the snipe and the sacks to catch them in.

      So two of the older scouts take the kids out away from camp. We could hear them out there...

      'Here snipe ! (clang clang) here snipe !'

      One of the other older Scouts had told me and the Scoutmaster that he could do a wolf howl imitation. So I asked him to sneak out there and do that.

      Some of us, including the Scoutmaster stayed in camp telling stories, etc.

      Right behind me, a wolf howled. I went up about 2 maybe 10 feet off the ground. It was the other older Scout.

      The joke was on me. The snipe hunters weren't actually out there a long way from camp. They were on the other side of some trees making noise and calling 'Here Snipe !'.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.
    • I'm a people watcher and have seen some interesting characters in campgrounds. I've always wondered why no one has made a reality tv show.

      I swear I once saw 2 prostitutes being dropped off at someone's site.

      I was camping with my youngest once and there were hippies from Illinois on one side and some redneck Kentuckians across the road. Those two groups really hit off. The guys from Kentucky grilled hotdogs for the group from Illinois. They were fun to watch.
      Lost in the right direction.
    • Xmas eve 98. me and Pirate were campin' at Juniper Springs NF campground in Ocala NF, Fla. shopped early in the day for Xmas day dinner. steaks, taters, corn on cob. spent the night at a biker bar down the road then went back to our site and listened to Xmas songs around the fire. hit the rack around 2300. pirate in a tent, me in my PU truck. the cooler with the steaks and beer were by my tailgate. 'bout a half hour later i hear the cooler open, assumed pirate was gettin' a beer. stuck my head up to see a freakin' raccoon with one of the steaks in his mouth. i jumped up and gave chase. little f..ker was gone. he stole my steak, a sirloin which was UNDER Pirate's ribeye. damn! next mornin' after a big breakfast we had to drive about 30 miles to find a store open on Xmas day to buy a steak. friggin' raccoons
    • A long time ago I was camping near the beach with my two daughters, they were 4 and 11. The campground was empty except a few RV's 1/2 mile(?) away. We were in the tents only section near a group of teens who had been drinking all day.

      I was woken up around 1am when girl and guy got in a fight. The girl tried to drive away and the guy was screaming and beating on her car with a tire iron. I thought he was going to kill her. I threw my girls in the car and drove to the camp office, tried the after hours number but no answer, so called the police. The police ended up arresting a few people. We went back to the tent and the rest of the night I heard people arguing about "who called the cops." Lol, they were so stupid.

      I stayed awake the rest of the night, scared to death for my girls and as soon as it got light, threw everything in the car and left.
      Lost in the right direction.
    • Da Wolf wrote:

      Xmas eve 98. me and Pirate were campin' at Juniper Springs NF campground in Ocala NF, Fla. shopped early in the day for Xmas day dinner. steaks, taters, corn on cob. spent the night at a biker bar down the road then went back to our site and listened to Xmas songs around the fire. hit the rack around 2300. pirate in a tent, me in my PU truck. the cooler with the steaks and beer were by my tailgate. 'bout a half hour later i hear the cooler open, assumed pirate was gettin' a beer. stuck my head up to see a freakin' raccoon with one of the steaks in his mouth. i jumped up and gave chase. little f..ker was gone. he stole my steak, a sirloin which was UNDER Pirate's ribeye. damn! next mornin' after a big breakfast we had to drive about 30 miles to find a store open on Xmas day to buy a steak. friggin' raccoons
      they even look like bandits
      its all good
    • Da Wolf wrote:

      Xmas eve 98. me and Pirate were campin' at Juniper Springs NF campground in Ocala NF, Fla. shopped early in the day for Xmas day dinner. steaks, taters, corn on cob. spent the night at a biker bar down the road then went back to our site and listened to Xmas songs around the fire. hit the rack around 2300. pirate in a tent, me in my PU truck. the cooler with the steaks and beer were by my tailgate. 'bout a half hour later i hear the cooler open, assumed pirate was gettin' a beer. stuck my head up to see a freakin' raccoon with one of the steaks in his mouth. i jumped up and gave chase. little f..ker was gone. he stole my steak, a sirloin which was UNDER Pirate's ribeye. damn! next mornin' after a big breakfast we had to drive about 30 miles to find a store open on Xmas day to buy a steak. friggin' raccoons
      Same exact place the damn coons were draggin' my cast iron pot full of beef stew off into the woods. About 3 in the morning.
      Changes Daily→ ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫♪♫ ← Don't blame me. It's That Lonesome Guitar.
    • About 10 years ago we were camping in Big Meadows campground and in the middle of the night my daughter needed to use the restroom. So I walked with her down the road to the bathroom building. There were so many deer grazing on the grass around the building that we had to shoo them out of the way for her to get the women's door.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • hikerboy wrote:

      Da Wolf wrote:

      Xmas eve 98. me and Pirate were campin' at Juniper Springs NF campground in Ocala NF, Fla. shopped early in the day for Xmas day dinner. steaks, taters, corn on cob. spent the night at a biker bar down the road then went back to our site and listened to Xmas songs around the fire. hit the rack around 2300. pirate in a tent, me in my PU truck. the cooler with the steaks and beer were by my tailgate. 'bout a half hour later i hear the cooler open, assumed pirate was gettin' a beer. stuck my head up to see a freakin' raccoon with one of the steaks in his mouth. i jumped up and gave chase. little f..ker was gone. he stole my steak, a sirloin which was UNDER Pirate's ribeye. damn! next mornin' after a big breakfast we had to drive about 30 miles to find a store open on Xmas day to buy a steak. friggin' raccoons
      they even look like bandits
      Used to have one for a pet named that. My sister raised it, originally feeding it milk with an eye dropper.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • TrafficJam wrote:

      I'm a people watcher and have seen some interesting characters in campgrounds. I've always wondered why no one has made a reality tv show.

      I swear I once saw 2 prostitutes being dropped off at someone's site.

      I was camping with my youngest once and there were hippies from Illinois on one side and some redneck Kentuckians across the road. Those two groups really hit off. The guys from Kentucky grilled hotdogs for the group from Illinois. They were fun to watch.
      Uh Opera had it covered a few years back. She did a great job.
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:
    • Oh, racoon stories.

      IN an old Scout camp back about 1957-1960, they had a few wood adarondack 3-sided shelters. 3 Wood bunks per shelter. Nice fire pit of concrete and rocks. Good in the winter time as you could build a fire in there and heat the shelter nice and warm.

      Anyway, the camp ranger/caretaker had stopped by after supper and said not to keep food in the shelters, racoons would get into it.
      He hollered !
      So we put all of our food in the cabin, where the scoutmaster slept.

      One of the kids, top bunk middle of our shelter, had kept a pack of crackers back as he said he got hungry at night.Scoutmaster told him it would be his fault if he had a visitor that night.

      He claimed he would be just fine.

      He hollered real loud. 'Racoons are trying to get me !'

      I turned on my flashlight, and looked around, no racoon.

      We told him to be quiet and go to sleep, he was just dreaming.

      Around an hour later, a racoon climbed up the end of the bunk and pulled the crackers out from under his pillow. He woke up with a big racoon about 3 inches from his face.

      He screamed ! The racoon screamed !

      They bailed out of opposite sides of that top bunk.

      The racoon took off towards the woods with th package of crackers, the kid took off towards the cabin.

      We were laughing so hard we couldn't have helped me even if we had needed to.

      edit: couldn't have helped him if we had wanted to.
      --
      "What do you mean its sunrise already ?!", me.

      The post was edited 1 time, last by JimBlue ().

    • OK... I have a campground story I can share.... Not all campgrounds appear quickly on maps, or google. I have a personal favorite as its a very quiet place on what may be PPL electric property, as remote as it is - its perfect for hiking the Conastoga Trail and Angel trail and has mountain bike places to boot.

      Pequea Creek
      86 Fox Hollow Road Pequea, PA 17565

      I invited my dad and his friends and mine to hang out for a weekend a few years back. We had already set up camp down by the creek and were enjoying each others company... One of our friends is a decorated Vietnam Vet named Jim who lives in Delaware and Maine and a really good artist. It was his first time with us on this trip. We were all sitting around the campfire and it was very late... a van pulled up in the next campsite and there was a guy with two very young 4-5 year old kids and from the overheard questions from the little boy & girl I could tell this was a first time. In almost total darkness they were attempting to pitch a 8 man tent. They being the dad - trying to do it single handed, by himself... This went on for about 15 minutes as I looked over from the campfire. Clearly he had borrowed the tent, he didn't have a clue how to get the new poles in the right places. I walked over without hesitation and didn't say much other than "Hey this looks like fun... Need a hand?" 15 minutes later all was good the tent was up and the kids got there sleeping bags and I offered a beer, to dad and to come join us... he declined - he wanted to get some shut eye.

      Jim was in astonishment at that moment. I had no idea. I later found out. You see the guy with the tent was shorter than 4 feet attempting to get an 7 foot high tent up. And he was a double amputee above the knee. He could not or did not use the usual prosthetic's at the time. It looked like he was walking on upside down arm rests off an office chair and was doing very well on them. I never gave it a thought. He just needed help to have a good time with the kids- that's it... Here we are a few years later and Jim still talks about it when we get together each spring and fall.


      Woo
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:
    • So, we're camping at a state park a few years ago with another buddy who was in town for a week-long convention. He's a great guy, but tends to really like his "magic water" rather than beer while around the campfire. Well, we're drinking and carrying on oblivious to the time and find our conversation interrupted by the sound of scratching coming from a large cooler sitting about 20 feet or so away from us.

      Sitting around the fire and yammering away, we didn't notice how dark it had gotten. Combine that with the roaring blaze we had going, and my night vision didn't have a prayer. So, when I heard the scratching, I stood up and looked over towards the cooler trying to see if it was a critter or what. So, my buddy gets up and just strolls over in that direction, and apparently seen the suspect on the side of the cooler. From about 10 feet away he started yelling at the racoon to get away, etc. And then, swear to God, he lifts his leg up in the air and stomps forward one giant, loud step toward the cooler.

      I asked WTH he was doing. And he turned back to me with the most serious look he's ever had and said, "I'm establishing dominance. I seen this on an animal show and animals really do respond to it."

      Can't tell you what happened after that cause I was on the ground laughing for about the next ten minutes! :D



      It's actually still a running joke years later. Once in a great while wifey will say something and I'll just stomp my foot at her, after which we're both in tears laughing.
      *

      For once I'd just like to hear myself say, "Great job, self! Why don't you just take the day off."